Calcium phosphate fouling is a growing concern for in many industries but most importantly in industries that use membranes for purification and filtration. The membrane operators due to new municipal applications and changes in water sources have seen an increase in calcium phosphate scaling and need an effective and safe method of eliminating the build of such scale. The traditional method of controlling scale, including calcium phosphate, is to feed acid which is effective but has some drawbacks firstly it can be detrimental to the membranes or reduce the use time before replacement is needed, secondly it can be cost prohibitive for large systems and finally there is safety concerns with the use of acid in high flow, high-pressure acid feed systems. This is why the industry has worked to discover new technologies for the use as an anti-sealant especially with phosphate scale.
The prevention of calcium phosphate scale in systems is exemplified in the process of membrane based water purification where the prevention of calcium phosphate fouling using anti-sealant has been met with limited success, if any. Factors contributing to this failure include the multiple forms of calcium phosphate, the slight negative charge of the membrane surface, and the negative effects of adding phosphonates and phosphates to water with a calcium phosphate scaling tendency. The current invention is a successful phosphate, sulfate and calcium inhibitors, which can be used in membrane based water purification as well as a broad range of other applications. In one embodiment the invention is used with membrane systems. In another embodiment the invention is used as a cleaner as trimethylglycine hydrochloride or as alternative salt such as trimethylglycine-potassium hydroxide or trimethylglycine-citric acid. In a further embodiment is used as a membrane performance enhancer.